Free Mating Instinct: A Moon Shifter Novel by Katie Reus

from her.
    And she realized she didn’t have to hide anything from him. He couldn’t stop her from doing what she wanted. “I heard APL members hung out here,” she said quietly, though the chance of humans’ overhearing them was practically zero.
    His gaze hardened. “And just what were you planning on doing to them?”
    She shrugged and leaned back in an effort to put some distance between them. “I don’t see how that’s any of your concern.”
    A rumbling sound came from deep within his chest. Almost a territorial growl. “Everything you do is my concern.” The look he gave her confused and angered her. He had no right to look at her as if she mattered to him. As if he cared about her. Not when it was obvious he wanted her only as a bed partner, nothing more.
    “Not anymore it’s not.” She took a sip of her beer, savoring the refreshing coolness as it slid down her dry throat.
    “Did you plan to fight them? Kill them? Follow some of them home?”
    When she didn’t respond, he let out an annoyed sigh. “Leave through the front of the bar, but meet me around back in a couple minutes.”
    Surprised, she looked at him. “What?”
    “It’s time for your second lesson. Never underestimate your opponent.”
    “What are you going to do?” She eyed him suspiciously. He was being far too relaxed.
    “Start a fight,” he said.
    Before she could respond, he was striding toward the pool tables with that arrogant swagger she recognized all too well.
    Shit.
If he was starting a fight, she had no doubt he’d be the victor. She’d seen him in action a couple of times and the man had a liquid grace and raw strength that scared the holy hell out of her.

Chapter 4
    J ayce was almost positive Kat had come here looking for trouble. Or APL members, to be more specific.
    After that hot kiss they’d shared earlier he hadn’t been able to get her out of his mind—though when was she ever far from his thoughts? He was always wondering what she was doing, where she was and whether she was okay or not. Hell, even when that explosion had tossed him through the air barely hours ago, she’d still been in the recesses of his brain. The feel of her underneath him in that barn, arching up against him, all sexy and pliant, made him ache. He hadn’t wanted to stop at kissing. No, he’d been so caught up in the feel of her long, lithe body that he’d broken his own damn rules. They’d been training. He should have had more control.
    He’d followed her to apologize but she’d gone to December’s house, so he’d waited for her. When he’d seen her leaving, he’d sensed guilt from her. It hadn’t been overt—for someone so newly turned she was surprisingly adept at controlling her emotions—but it had struck him as odd. He’d wondered if she felt guilty for kissing him, but quickly dismissed the idea, as it didn’t make sense.
    Now that he’d followed her here, he wondered if that guilt had anything to do with her appearance at this bar. He’d just barely made it back to Fontana in time to track her. He’d left the laptop with one of Connor’s packmates who’d followed Kat back to December’s. While he wanted to know what was on it, he wanted to talk to Kat a lot more.
    Without outright accusing her, he wouldn’t know if she’d taken the list of APL members from Liam’s house. Connor had printed out a handful of copies and one had definitely gone to his brother. Unless Kat had been doing some undercover work of her own recently, Jayce couldn’t figure how she’d
known
APL members hung out here. And he didn’t believe in coincidences.
    Jayce had known about this hangout thanks to intel that one of the Council leaders had given him a few weeks ago. The kind of APL members that frequented the bar weren’t the kind of guys Kat needed to tangle with. Shifter or not, she was about to learn that things aren’t always what they seem. Unless his intel was wrong—and he hoped the hell it was—these guys were